A large and growing population of users enjoys entertainment through the consumption of media items, including electronic media, such as electronic books (also referred to herein as ebooks), electronic newspapers, electronic magazines, other electronic publications, audio books, and digital video. Users employ various electronic devices to consume such media items. Among these electronic devices are electronic book readers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable media players, tablet computers, electronic pads, netbooks, desktop computers, notebook computers, and the like.
In various scenarios, it may be advantageous to detect when a user is in close proximity to an electronic device. For example, the electronic device may decrease the transmission power of a radio frequency antenna when the user is near the device to prevent the user from being exposed to excess radiation. In addition, certain specifications may require that the presence of a user be detected within a certain range of the device (e.g., ten millimeters). Conventional proximity sensing solutions may detect the presence of an object using capacitance sensing techniques. Depending on the sensitivity of the capacitance sensor and the distance that the object is from the electronic device, it may be difficult to distinguish between a user's body and some other conductive object (e.g., a metal table). For example, a large metal table at one distance may register the same capacitance value with the capacitance sensor as a human body at another distance. Without knowing the distance between an object and the electronic device, it may be difficult to determine whether the object is a user's body or some other object. This may result in the device decreasing the transmission power unnecessarily, possibly leading to decreased performance.